The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created multiple outbreak response toolkits and other resources to assist public health professionals during their outbreak response to save time on creating tools so more time can be spent on the investigation. This finding aid directs the user to many such tools. 

The Enteric Disease Outbreak Investigation Model provides guidelines for enteric disease outbreak investigation to local health departments. The model covers many parts of outbreak investigation, including epidemiologic, environmental, nursing, legal, and public information.

This presentation by Dionne Law, PhD, Spatial Epidemiology Research Associate, Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides an introduction to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for infectious diseases surveillance and outbreak investigation.

This report was commissioned by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) to evaluate current foodborne disease surveillance in New Zealand as part of a program to improve the quality of epidemiological information that is gained from foodborne disease surveillance, investigation and reporting.

Outbreaks from 2002 through 2006 recorded in a European norovirus surveillance database were investigated for virologic and epidemiologic indicators of food relatedness. The selection tool enabled prospectively focused follow-up. Use of this tool is likely to improve data quality and strain typing in current surveillance systems, which is necessary for identification of potential international foodborne outbreaks (a spreadsheet of this tool is also provided with this reference).

The Foodborne Outbreak Online Database has been designed to allow the public direct access to information on foodborne outbreaks reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most outbreaks are reported to the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) by the state, local, territorial, or tribal health department that conducted the outbreak investigation. Outbreak reporting is voluntary. Multi-state outbreaks are generally reported to NORS by CDC.

These guidelines have been written for public health practitioners, food and health inspectors, district and national medical officers, laboratory personnel and others who may undertake or participate in the investigation and control of foodborne disease outbreaks. While the book focuses on practical aspects of outbreak investigation and control, it also provides generic guidance that can be adapted to individual countries and local requirements. At the field level it will be valuable in initial epidemiological, environmental and laboratory investigations, in implementation of appropriate control measures, and in alerting investigators to the need to seek assistance for more complex situations. At national and regional levels, the guidelines will assist decision-makers in identifying and coordinating resources and in creating an environment appropriate for the successful management of foodborne disease outbreaks.

These case studies are interactive exercises developed to teach epidemiologic principles and practices. They are based on real-life outbreaks and public health problems and were developed in collaboration with the original investigators and experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The case studies require students to apply their epidemiologic knowledge and skills to problems confronted by public health practitioners at the local, state, and national level every day. Two types of epidemiologic case studies are available. The computer-based case studies can be used as self-study and in the classroom setting. The classroom case studies are primarily for use in a group setting with a knowledgeable instructor.

The Guidelines describes the overall approach to outbreaks of foodborne diseases, including preparation, detection, investigation, control, and follow-up. The Guidelines also describes the roles of all key organizations involved in these outbreaks, provides recommendations for processes to improve communication and coordination among multiple agencies during multijurisdictional outbreaks, and identifies indicators that different organizations can use to gauge their performance in responding to foodborne disease outbreaks.